The domestic treatment of coloured fabrics is a problem known in the art to the formulator of laundry compositions. More particularly, the problem of formulating laundry compositions which reduce the amount of dyes released from coloured fabrics upon wet treatment is a particular challenge to the formulator. This problem is now even more acute with the trends of consumer to move towards more colored fabrics.
Numerous solutions have been proposed in the art to solve this problem such as by treating the fabric with a dye scavenger during the washing process as described in EP 0,341,205, EP 0,033,815 and with a polyvinyl substance as described in WO 94/11482 or in the rinse cycle with a dye fixing agent as described in EP 0,462,806. However, a problem encountered with these solutions is that the dye fixing agents when used in the washing process may be destroyed or damaged by contact on storage and/or during the process, whilst when used in the rinse cycle the need for high level of dye fixing agents is required to provide effective dye fixation performance. By high levels of dye fixing agents is meant levels above at least 5% by weight and more especially above 10% by weight of the softening compositions. Furthermore, a problem related with the use of dye fixing agents in a softening composition is that of its weight efficiency. So that, although levels of dye fixing agents above 10% by weight would provide effective dye fixation, such use would result in an increase in the formulation cost. Another problem related to the use of a high level of dye fixing agents in liquid fabric softening compositions is that the resulting products show phase instability. On the other hand, lowering the level of dye fixing agents would not provide sufficient dye fixing properties.
Accordingly, notwithstanding the advances in the art, there is still a need for a composition which effectively reduces the amount of dyes released from coloured fabrics upon wet treatment .
The Applicant has now found that the use of a dispersible polyolefin in a fabric softener composition comprising one or more cationic fabric softener component having at least two long chains and one or more cationic dye fixing agent overcomes the problem.
An advantage of the invention is that the use of said dispersible polyolefin, even when preferably present in a low amount such as from 0.1% to 3% by weight, in a fabric softener composition comprising one or more cationic fabric softener component having at least two long chains and one or more cationic dye fixative agents allows the use of a lower amount of cationic dye fixative agent while still not being detrimental to the dye fixing performance of the composition.
It is therefore an advantage of the invention to provide fabric softening compositions which provide effective reduction of the amount of dyes released from coloured fabrics upon wet domestic treatments.
It is another advantage of the invention to provide fabric softening compositions with effective softening properties.
It is a further advantage of the invention to provide liquid fabric softening compositions which show effective storage stability.